Kiefer Hillerich of Louisville, Ky., took the first-round lead in the 20-and-under boys division with a five-game total of 1,211 (242.2 average). Hillerich fired games of 228, 211, 259, 246 and 267 to lead the U20 boys field of 1,023.

Daniel Deno of Owensboro, Ky., had one of three 300 games in the first round and sits in second place with 1,200. Junior Team USA member Wesley Low of Palmdale, Calif., is third with 1,198.

Matt Russo of Millstone Township, N.J., (68th place with 1,031) and Tate Taylor of Bedford, Texas, (325th place with 919) also had 300 games Monday.

In the U20 girls division, Dayna Mackie of Glendale Heights, Ill., shot 1,112 (222.4 average) to lead the field of 569 players. Mackie got off to a slow start with games of 205 and 170 before finishing strong with 245, 257 and 235.

Junior Team USA member Natalie Goodman of O'Fallon, Ill., sits in second place with 1,067, while Anna Groce of Kernersville, N.C., is third with 1,042.

With the first round competed in the 15-and-under division, Jerrod Hromek of Towanda, Kan., leads the boys division with a five-game total of 1,095 (219 average). Hromek put together games of 232, 163, 257, 191 and 252 to lead the field of 315 boys.Cortez Schenck of Phoenix sits in second place with 1,043, while David Daniels of Sebring, Fla., is third with 1,038. In all, 10 players averaged better than 200 in the opening round.

In the U15 girls division, Brittney Hall of Lincoln, Neb., fired 1,051 (210.2 average) to top the field of 171 after the first round. Hall fired games of 221, 191, 248, 213 and 178 to take a slight lead.

Samantha Gainor of Chesterfield, Mich., sits in second with 1,042, while defending champion Breanna Clemmer of Clover, S.C., is third with 1,028. They were the only three players to average better than 200.

A total of 2,078 of the nation's top youth bowlers are competing in the North Pointe Junior Gold at six bowling centers in the Detroit metro area.

The boys competition is being held at AMF Rose Bowl in Roseville and Sterling Lanes and Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights. The girls are competing at Astro Lanes in Madison Heights, 5 Star Lanes in Sterling Heights and Bowl One in Troy. The final two days for all competitors will be at Sunnybrook Lanes.

All bowlers bowl 15 games of qualifying over three days. One out of every seven bowlers will advance to the next round, where an additional five games will be bowled Thursday. After 20 games, as many as 64 bowlers in each division will advance to five final qualifying games Thursday evening before the field is cut to the top 16 in each division for the double-elimination match-play bracket on Friday.

Automatic Junior Team USA spots will be awarded to the top two boys and top two girls in the 20-and-under division after 25 games of qualifying. Additional automatic spots will be given to the winner and runner-up after bracket play in the 20-and-under division. If one or both of the finalists in the bracket already earned a spot through qualifying, the automatic spot becomes an at-large selection.

The National Selection Committee will select two boys and two girls from the match-play field, with all bowlers, including 15 and under, eligible for at-large selection. The final eight spots - four boys and four girls - on Junior Team USA will be determined at the USBC Team USA Trials in January.

BOWL.com's BowlTV will have free live streaming of the event starting Thursday at 8 a.m. Eastern and continuing until the champions are crowned Friday afternoon.